Help me pick the NHL trophies

Just got the email “ballot” from the NHL, for the awarding of trophies. As a member of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association the last 14 years, I get an official vote on who gets what.

I’ve got ’til Wednesday to make my selections and hand them in to Ernst and Young, who will tabulate them and those from other writers from around the league, and the winners will get the hardware in the league’s annual awards show – to be held this year in Las Vegas.

I’ll open up the floor to anybody who wants to give me their lists as well, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll influence one of my picks. Also to be picked are all-star teams. On the trophies, I and other writers give my top-five players.

Let’s hear it, and here’s the trophy list:
HART TROPHY (“to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team”) — Five selections.

NORRIS TROPHY (“to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position”) — Five selections.

CALDER TROPHY (“to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition”) — Five selections.
(Note: An eligible player cannot have played more than 25 NHL games in any single preceding season nor in six or more games in each of any two preceding seasons. A player must not have attained his 26th birthday by Sept. 15 of the season in which he is eligible.)

LADY BYNG TROPHY (“to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability”) — Five selections.

SELKE TROPHY (“to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game”) — Five selections.

(2) NHL All-Star Team

CENTER — Three selections.
RIGHT WING — Three selections.
LEFT WING — Three selections.
DEFENSE — SIX selections.
GOALTENDER — Three selections.

Hart: Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, Pavel Datsuyk, Steve Mason, Zach Parise
– Malkin should get this for carrying the Pens until the trade deadline. They’d be a border line playoff team without him.

Norris: Mike Green, Zdeno Chara, Shea Weber, Lidstrom, Brian Boyle
– Green has 31 goals, 73 points, and is a +25. While Chara has been great has always I don’t see how you can pass up Green’s numbers! Plus he’s only played 67 games! He’s averaging over a point a game from the blueline!

Calder- Steve Mason, Bobby Ryan, Pekke Rinne, Drew Doughty, Kyle Versteeg
– ROY of the year is all but Mason’s for the job he has done in Columbus’ net. He does deserve the award. But, both Ryan and Rinne have been sensational for the respective teams as well. Ryan might have won the award had he played the whole year. Ducks don’t make the playoffs without him. Rinne might have won if he didn’t play in the hockey abyss that is Nashville.

Selke- Pavel Datsuyk, Mike Richards, Ryan Kesler, Henrik Zetterberg, John Madden
– Datsuyk is the best two-way player in the game. Richards is a stud and I think Kesler is just going to keep getting better, but this is going to be Datsuyk’s trophy for awhile.

Thanks Dater that was a fun way to kill some time this morning. Keep up the great Avalanche coverage!

marc ragusin

Hart: Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, Pavel Datsuyk, Steve Mason, Zach Parise
– Malkin should get this for carrying the Pens until the trade deadline. They’d be a border line playoff team without him.

Norris: Mike Green, Zdeno Chara, Shea Weber, Lidstrom, Brian Boyle
– Green has 31 goals, 73 points, and is a +25. While Chara has been great has always I don’t see how you can pass up Green’s numbers! Plus he’s only played 67 games! He’s averaging over a point a game from the blueline!

Calder- Steve Mason, Bobby Ryan, Pekke Rinne, Drew Doughty, Kyle Versteeg
– ROY of the year is all but Mason’s for the job he has done in Columbus’ net. He does deserve the award. But, both Ryan and Rinne have been sensational for the respective teams as well. Ryan might have won the award had he played the whole year. Ducks don’t make the playoffs without him. Rinne might have won if he didn’t play in the hockey abyss that is Nashville.

Selke- Pavel Datsuyk, Mike Richards, Ryan Kesler, Henrik Zetterberg, John Madden
– Datsuyk is the best two-way player in the game. Richards is a stud and I think Kesler is just going to keep getting better, but this is going to be Datsuyk’s trophy for awhile.

That’s great, you want to share this moment with all your readers! Glad to be one of them to give you my list.

Hart
1. Geno Malkin – I think he has outstanding season. He was clutch player for Pittsburgh in many occasions. he leads NHL in points. Just because Penguins are Crosby’s team should strip Malkin of Hart. he really deserves it!
2. Ovechkin
3. Mike Richards
4. Tim Thomas
5. Zach Parise

Norris
1. Nick Lidstrom – I hate to write this, because he is a Red Wing, but I think he is still THE BEST overall D-man in the League
2. Mike Green
3. Dan Boyle
4. Zdeno Chara
5. Andrei Markov

Calder
1. Steve Mason- what an outstadnding season he has, clearly best rookie of the season
2. Bobby Ryan – to bad he didn’t play the whole season
3. Pekka Rinne
4. Kris Versteeg
5. Patrik Berglund

That’s great, you want to share this moment with all your readers! Glad to be one of them to give you my list.

Hart
1. Geno Malkin – I think he has outstanding season. He was clutch player for Pittsburgh in many occasions. he leads NHL in points. Just because Penguins are Crosby’s team should strip Malkin of Hart. he really deserves it!
2. Ovechkin
3. Mike Richards
4. Tim Thomas
5. Zach Parise

Norris
1. Nick Lidstrom – I hate to write this, because he is a Red Wing, but I think he is still THE BEST overall D-man in the League
2. Mike Green
3. Dan Boyle
4. Zdeno Chara
5. Andrei Markov

Calder
1. Steve Mason- what an outstadnding season he has, clearly best rookie of the season
2. Bobby Ryan – to bad he didn’t play the whole season
3. Pekka Rinne
4. Kris Versteeg
5. Patrik Berglund

Not much chance of Ovie getting passed up, even with his detractors. His gift silences people.

And I’m glad to see so much agreement about Steve Mason. If he doesn’t win the Calder, then it will just prove to me that guys like him fall below the radar because they are on teams outside of the conventional hockey belts.

Mason is poetry. Every time I watch him I am overwhelmed with awe of his spider-sense and white-hot jealousy that we don’t have him on my Avs.

Mike Wofsey

Not much chance of Ovie getting passed up, even with his detractors. His gift silences people.

And I’m glad to see so much agreement about Steve Mason. If he doesn’t win the Calder, then it will just prove to me that guys like him fall below the radar because they are on teams outside of the conventional hockey belts.

Mason is poetry. Every time I watch him I am overwhelmed with awe of his spider-sense and white-hot jealousy that we don’t have him on my Avs.

Hart: Malikin or Ovechkin are the obvious choices.
Norris: Lidström. The guy is in his own class
Calder: Steve Mason
Lady Byng: I guess Datsyuk deserves it yet again.
Selke: Well… Pavs for this one too. He’s a class forward offensively and defensively

Hart: Malikin or Ovechkin are the obvious choices.
Norris: Lidström. The guy is in his own class
Calder: Steve Mason
Lady Byng: I guess Datsyuk deserves it yet again.
Selke: Well… Pavs for this one too. He’s a class forward offensively and defensively

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.